Religion, Animal Rights, and Animal Legislation

order of the authors ’ names was randomly determined. Religion, Animal Rights, and Animal Legislation This article addresses the question: What are the connections between public perspectives on the nature of being or ontology, religious adherence, general support for rights, support for animal rights, and the enactment of legislation to control animals? The primary hypothesis is that persons who perceive animals from a specific spiritual, ontological, or religious perspective will be more supportive of the idea of animal rights than persons with other spiritual, ontological, or religious perspectives. Also, we hypothesize that the support for legislation that protects animal welfare and animal rights differs from religion to religion. To assess the hypotheses we employ data from a survey that we have conducted of more than 4,300 Americans, Australians, Britons, and Canadians that includes measures of support for the ideology of rights and support for pro-animal policies and legislation. Our conclusions address how and why various core spiritual values and religion are related to certain differences in support for the ideology of animal rights and for specific pro-animal legislation